So grateful to be part of this community

Hello new friends and dream travelers. I first discovered Lucid Dreaming when I found Stephen Lebarge’s book when it was first published and attempted to lucid dream on and off since then with little success. I did have many vivid dreams over the years and am obsessed with flying ( actually was a paraglider for a year in Real life and very into flight simulators and even built a virtual reality paraglider simulator- but that’s another story).
When the pandemic hit and I was stuck home, I thought it might be a perfect time to dedicate myself to lucid dreaming. I have tried it all…Reality checks all day, many podcasts, books ,HowToLucid.com, paid course. All the techniques … I have been dream journaling every day for over 4 months now…I mediate every day and bought a “Mindplace Limina”…very cool…I tried Choline, mugwort, B6, 5-Htp…but many give me a bad stomachache at low doses.
Anyway…sorry this so long…
After the 1st 2 weeks had a brief lucid dream…Yay. Where I recognized I must be dreaming and saw my finger go right thru the palm of my hand…I yelled “It works, It’s true. I am lucid!” I was so excited, I immediately woke up. I know now how to control that when it happens again. But at least it happened. Since then, for 4 months, there was a period where I had many dreams in which I thought “am I dreaming” or “this must be a dream”. But then wake up before I can do a reality check. Those were all very bizarre dreams. For the past month my dreams have all been very mundane with nothing to make me question if I was dreaming.
I am getting very frustrated but will not give up.
I want to FLY in my dreams, swim with dolphins, travel thru the stars and learn more about myself and life.
I am almost 63 and wonder if my brain is just too “hard wired” to be starting this.
Now I have found this wonderful community and so look forward to watching the webinars and connecting with you all.
Thanks foe reading and I hope to “meet” many of you soon.
Steve

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I’m 68 and I just started on this path early last year. I have practiced every single day and night since then and I embrace every short moment of lucidity.

I do think our brains are hard wired against lucidity and maybe there is a good reason for that. There is a chemical that is released during REM sleep that keeps the metacognitive function of the brain in check. I am coming to consider that to be a good thing in general. Imagine being fully lucid all the time in dreams rather than being a passive part of that process. Consider the psychological ramifications of that.

I think, instead, that we may be slowly evolving toward that kind of lucidity and that those of us who work so hard at it are on the forefront of that process.

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Hi @Flyingkeys!

Have you been able to check out the webinars “Obstacles and Antidotes”? The 5th one talks about discouragement and frustration.

You had a glimpse tho! That alone deserves a WELL DONE! :clap: :+1: :love_you_gesture:

I imagine it’s like meditation - having a deeper ‘experience’ which immediately becomes an obstacle. Our minds…stubborn little things. Or I guess I should say - our Self-Egos are the stubborn creations!

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Thanks for the reply and I will definitely check out the webinar.
Is it “normal” whatever that means” that a dream needs to be bizarre, fantastical to question it and incite lucidity?
I also have been doing more Virtual reality and video gaming that I hope to inspire more lucidity. I am questioning reality all day, so it’s odd that that isn’t happening in my dream life.
Cheers,
Steve

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Great input. That’s where I wonder if the supplements I have tried are meant to “counteract” that chemical in the brain. Ie Choline, B6, etc .

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Welcome to the community. I am 73 and sometimes wondered the same thing, though after 2 years, I’ve proven to myself that I can do it. I’ve had some experience with supplements, Galantamine, B-6, Gaba, Chaga and others, and with different techniques. I have had recent good luck with the techniques cited in this research.

We have a dream group meeting on Sundays and I derive a lot of motivation from those Dreamanauts each week. They’re characters in my day-dreaming. A couple of weeks ago Emeric’s tale of trying to fly into space inspired me enough to do that that very night. I like Steve’s advice above and he’s helped to inspire me as well.

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Hi. Hope I can ask a quick question about the site. I did put out a question to Andrew and am sure I’ll hear back soon, but I can’t get any webinar to play and it says “you need to be a member of Nightclub” which I thought I was, and it does show me as logged it. Are the webinars only available with a paid membership…so far I just signed up for the free one.
Btw, I forgot to mention …I did have a 2nd lucid dream where I tried to put my right finger thru my left palm and it didn’t go…until I turned my left hand over and th finger was sticking out the back of the hand…but then I woke up…
Thanks again for the encouragement.
Steve

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Thanks for reaching out Barry. That’s good to hear about the age and time it took… I see posts about getting lucid in 2-4 weeks and I’m thinking…”I’ve been soooo dedicated and what’s wrong …so excited I found this site. How does one join the Sunday meeting?
Thanks,
Steve

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Here’s the info for the Sunday meetings.

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I usually try to put my hands through walls. Seems to work better than losing digits that way for me. Nightclub recently went to a two-tier system with “Emerald” membership opening up all the extra goodies that Andrew and AndyK have posted here. Well worth the expense in my opinion.

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It is my understanding that galantamine inhibits the enzyme (acetylcholinesterase) that is the culprit here.

I did not start using galantamine until I was over a year into my training and was already experiencing lucidity. I felt that it was important to establish a more natural and holistic groundwork before I looked into “hot wiring” things. :wink:

I am getting extremely strong results these days with a weekly dose of galantamine.

On another note…the interviews are well worth the price of admission, as Barry mentioned. There are a treasure trove of insight and inspiration.

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thanks. I just paid and joined the Emerald plan. Unfortunately, I missed the Sunday dream group, but hopefully next week.
I think I will try to wait on the Galantamine for a while… I am sure it is best to go “natural” as much as possible.
Looking forward to the webinars.
Steve

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